By Harley Ryan, Buzz Contributor

Andrew Galo and Jordan Ashbaugh playing a pickup game in practice. (Photo by Harley Ryan)

Shenandoah’s Ultimate Frisbee team, dubbed “Sound Ultimate,” finished their rough preseason on a high note as they look ahead to their regular season in the spring.

In their first tournament of the season, the team faced off against Bridgewater University, Radford University, and University of North Carolina of Asheville (UNC-Asheville), losing all five games.

(Photo by Harley Ryan)

Despite this loss, the team rallied together to score eight straight points against Bridgewater when they were down 2-10.Then they held their own against UNC-Asheville, one of the top ten Ultimate teams in the country, with a score of 7-11.    

“The first tournament of the season in Roanoke was an amazing experience, for many of our players it was their first game ever,” said rookie Austin Huehn, 18, a Theatre Design and Production major. “We didn’t do as well as we had hoped, but we all had fun and learned a lot.”

Sound Ultimate president Joey Lisko, 19, a Music Production Recording Technology major, considered this to be just a warm up tournament, saying their second tournament would be their most competitive of the year.

“This tournament will tell whether we’ve taken a step forward or a step back,” Lisko said.

The team took a huge step forward during their second tournament, with a score of 5-2, placing third overall out of 12 teams.

Eric Bateman throwing a pass to another teammate in practice. (Photo by Harley Ryan)

On Saturday, Nov. 5 at the College of William & Mary, Sound Ultimate claimed wins over George Mason University (13-8), College of William & Mary (10-9), Bridgewater College (10-9), which landed them an automatic spot in the quarter finals.

The team beat University of Mary Washington in the quarterfinals 15-4, sending them into the semifinals where they played against University of Virginia (UVA). Although they lost to UVA 15-8, the team was able to defeat James Madison University 11-8 to secure the third place spot.

“We avenged most the teams that beat us in the conference championships last year, which was pretty dope,” said Lisko.

The team’s last tournament of the preseason will be at the University of Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 19 and Sunday, Nov. 20.